Los Angeles to pick new leader Tuesday

This file combo shows a Feb. 20 file photo of Los Angeles mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti speaking to media in Los Angeles, left, and undated image provided by the Wendy Greuel Campaign of mayoral candidate Greuel meeting with voters. Despite the high stakes, the race has been a mostly low-drama affair between two government regulars. In a city known to yawn at local politics, turnout is expected to be sparse; perhaps only one in four voters will go to the polls. AP

LOS ANGELES – For all the squabbling over allegiance to union bosses and ethical lapses real or perceived, the two candidates who could succeed Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa agree on this: City Hall is in big trouble.

"Government in Los Angeles is broken. Paralysis rules," said Wendy Greuel, the city controller who could become the first woman to hold the job. To her rival, Councilman Eric Garcetti, "It's not just our sidewalks that are broken, it's the system."

Grousing about ineffective government is nothing new in the city of nearly 4 million, where crime is historically low but residents live with knotted traffic, struggling schools and a municipal bureaucracy seen as indifferent.

But the runoff election Tuesday arrives at a vexing time for the city's $7.7 billion budget – there simply hasn't been enough money to go around.

Streets are "filled with cracks and potholes and sidewalks that are uprooted, some a foot-and-a-half off the ground," said John Walker, who heads a neighborhood council in Studio City. "It's a matter of money. All of our services have been cut."

The race has been a mostly low-drama affair between two government regulars who remain indistinct figures to many residents. In a city known to yawn at local politics, turnout is expected to be sparse – perhaps only one in four voters will go to the polls.

The budget has been a central issue, and the outlook is not encouraging.

MOUNTAIN OF ISSUES

Bankrupt Stockton and other California cities are in worse shape, but Los Angeles is in "a perilous fiscal state," warned Austin Beutner, a former investment banker and deputy mayor who dropped out of the race last year.

Spending is projected to outpace revenue for years, and rising pension and retiree health care bills threaten money that could go to libraries, tree-trimming and street repairs. Villaraigosa, who will leave office July 1 after an uneven eight-year run, has encouraged his successor to try to block a 5.5 percent pay increase for civilian employees while looking warily at future raises.

Reopening a labor contract won't be easy.

"A deal's a deal," said Bob Schoonover, president of Service Employees International Union Local 721, which represents 10,000 city workers. "The mayor signed a contract, and we expect the city to honor it."

Recovery from the recession has been slow – the city's unemployment remains in double digits – and businesses complain about government red tape.

Beyond the budget are other problems. Emergency response times are suffering. Too many schools remain drop-out factories with low test scores. And Los Angeles International Airport often is dinged for being dirty and poorly run.

The candidates' refrains about broken government are somewhat self-critical, since both are fixtures at a City Hall long dominated by Democrats. Garcetti, 42, is a former City Council president; Greuel, 51, served on the council before changing jobs.

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This file combo shows a Feb. 20 file photo of Los Angeles mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti speaking to media in Los Angeles, left, and undated image provided by the Wendy Greuel Campaign of mayoral candidate Greuel meeting with voters. Despite the high stakes, the race has been a mostly low-drama affair between two government regulars. In a city known to yawn at local politics, turnout is expected to be sparse; perhaps only one in four voters will go to the polls. AP
In this March 6 file photo, mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti speaks at a news conference in Los Angeles. Garcetti faces Wendy Greuel in a mayoral runoff Tuesday. NICK UT, AP
In this March 6 file photo, mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel speaks to media in Los Angeles. Greuel faces Eric Garcetti in a mayoral runoff Tuesday. NICK UT, AP

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